Quote Originally Posted by Fornix View Post
Whereas with periodic increases newer players can very rapidly catch up due to steps of new gear being easily accessible. Making games like this more welcoming to newer players.
It also made sure that hardcore players had a steady pool of geared people to recruit from. During my hardcore days during vanilla, it was annoying that we would have to turn around to gear newer recruits, which took months, before we could return to the forefront of progression. By that time, you would lose people and would have to repeat that cycle of recruiting/regearing. When content was shortened and up to par gear was provided, it removed the problem of small recruitment pools and huge gear gaps.

It benefited newer players and hardcore players alike.